The problem is that once we have a single supplier of everything we have a situation in which one person essentially owns everything, and that smells awfully close to communism.

"Porn should not be shown to kids."

Why not?

I mean where exactly is the problem?

Well the catch is that social healthcare is necessary but security theater isn't.

Location: Sweden

So at the end of this summer I bought the Orange Box in a local gamestore near my home where I stay during summer. I return back to my dorm room soon after (before having had time to install the game) and once I get back here I do... But... It does not work. No. The game box was definitely new and unbroken (also in plastic wrap) yet for some reason the installer tells me "This serial code is already in use". I could not return the game because the store was 3 hours away by car.

Shit.

I contact steam support and I'm told to take a picture of the note with the serial number on it and the receipt. I do.

Now they give me a unique code. I am to write that code on the same paper and take another picture and send them. I do.

Now they tell me they can't do anything, because the game was obviously bought used. The store in question actually does sell used games, which can be seen on the reciept too. Shit.

So what do I do?

I write something like this: "You have seen the receipt already so you know the game was bought at full retail price. If I knew the game was used I would not pay that much money for it. Certainly not for a game utilizing online serial code validation. Secondly, this game was purchased in Sweden. If the game was owned by someone else who sold it to that store it seems likely that whoever did that was also Swedish or had installed the game while in Sweden. You could perhaps take a quick look and see if the serial code is registered to a Swedish steam account."

A few hours later: "We've transferred the serial to your account. This is, however, not standard procedure."

Me: "Thanks!"

Steam is not without its faults. Thank god there are some sensible people working in their support.

Assuming the button doesn't work, how do you actually get to cross the road?

If the button doesn't work then it means that the streetlights cannot turn red (for car traffic) and that means that there will be vehicle traffic indefinitely. Is there some kind of automated system that stops traffic at regular intervals to allow for pedestrians to cross?

Money is not speech.

Would that work?

Blizzard has removed features known to players of the original SC. New players aren't going to know these features are missing, so they aren't going to complain about them not being there. To these new players the lack of a feature they didn't know existed isn't a detriment to the quality of the game itself. It will only affect players who know how good the game COULD have been if the feature had been there. Ignorance is bliss.

The fact that the game is still popular despite having these features removed proves only two things:
1: The game is a good game anyway so people play it
2: The people who know about the feature are such a minority that any drop in sales they cause has no effect on the overall popularity

I think the lack of these feautres might hurt the longevity of the game, though, and it is possible that they plan to compensate for this by using the two expansions to support the long term popularity instead. That remains to be seen, however. It's certainly possible that Blizzard will still make changes to battlenet.

Zidane was imo one of the more tolerable main characters among the modern games since FF7 came out. I think only Cloud is as good as him, really. Squall is utterly boring and a complete annoying... Argh. Tidus is bland as hell and wth his outfit is ridiculous. I haven't played FFXII and FFXIII though so they might change my mind...

I'd personally aim for people writing "would of" instead of "would have" and similar...

Are you insane? No I mean that seriously. You think that it is actually worse to look at forbidden pictures than to murder someone? Seriously?

The worst possible scenario for the images would have been if he had created them himself, but this seems unlikely seeing that he was only charged with possession.

The second worst possible scenario would've been if he had paid for them, which isn't necessary with current technology. By paying for it, you are in a way supporting the industry.

The third scenario is that he downloaded it through p2p which has no effect on the original producer and does not provably create incentive to make more. If it does, it is so neglible as to be practically non-existant.

Furthermore there is the underlying assumption that the pictures depict sexual abuse, which is not necessary for the images to be classified as child pornography. Infact it is possible (read likely) that the pictures are only nude posing pictures, and in that case there is no actual sexual abuse behind the creation of the images. If there is no abuse it is not possible for the abuse to "create further abuse".

In addition to this you assume that abuse leads to further abuse which has not been proven. The cause for paedophilia is unknown.

You are making too many assumptions.

I guess it would've been better if he had just simply killed someone.

Sounds to me like the US system is totally and utterly fucked up.

Way to put words in my mouth.

I said nothing about CIA. I said nothing about FBI or NSA or KGB. I'm not blaming outside influence here at all. I'm saying that the system is not behaving as it should be behaving and many things here are not as they should be.

Add to this the fact that the Swedish definition of rape might not be what you or anyone else would define as rape, and we have a bit of a situation.

Let me add that the Swedish laws on rape are also strongly discriminatory.

A male fingering a sleeping female in her sleep is rape.

A male masturbating a sleeping man is not rape.